The Annual LUMUN XV (LUMS Model United Nations) Conference

29 December 2018 - 2 January 2018, LUMS, Lahore. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) facilitated LUMUN XV, a student driven society of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). This year the theme of LUMUN XV was 'For justice we strive, with hope, we survive'. From 29 th December 2018 to 02 nd January 2019, the student delegates from secondary level educational institutes, all over Pakistan were invited to simulate model United Nations. It provided an excellent opportunity for the youth of educational institutes, while creating necessary awareness on contemporary national, regional and international issues.

The five days consist of extensive debates on the global issues, writing of country specific position papers and then reaching at drafting of a resolution, based on collective wisdom. During the process, the delegates are emphasized value of tolerance, unity, empathy, education, empowerment and hope. The student delegates also experienced in the significance of ethics in diplomacy and functioning of international relations.

With the support of Global UNODC Education for Justice (E4J) initiative, the UNODC Country Office Pakistan, for the first time collaborated with LUMUN Society of LUMS. A UNODC committee was constituted in LUMUN XV, which deliberated upon the subject related to UNODC mandate. The preference of UNODC was accepted by LUMUN to make the subject related to rule of law, crime prevention and criminal justice a regular feature in their future endeavors. This year the focus was placed on global contemporary issue, while also considering the priority of present Government of Pakistan, on 'Corruption and Crimes'. After extensive discussions, salient points were highlighted: more institutionalized bilateral, regional and international cooperation to effectively fight this menace; enhanced interdiction capacity of relevant law enforcement agencies is required; revised legal reforms related to financial crimes; more facilitation in financial data sharing and management of transaction records; and easy asset recovery mechanism between state parties etcetera. In the end, a resolution was drafted, having generous inputs from all the delegates and subsequently approved through consensus.

The LUMUN XV provided an opportunity to the student delegates to interact with the former ambassadors, UN employees and other guests related to international relations for sharing of experience. The closing ceremony took place on 2 nd January 2019, the awards and token of appreciation were presented to the members of LUMUN Executive Council, committee directors and winning delegates of different educational institutes. The imminent Pakistani former diplomat and Chairman of LUMUN Society Mr. Shehryar Khan addressed the students and emphasized the importance of youth active involvement in the contemporary world issues.